


The Captain's Cat

by Umeko



Series: A Parisian Cat [2]
Category: d'Artagnan Romances (Three Musketeers Series) - All Media Types
Genre: Feline shenanigans, Gen, OC is a cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-28
Updated: 2014-05-28
Packaged: 2018-01-26 20:53:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1702199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umeko/pseuds/Umeko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More shenanigans from a certain Parisian black cat. The Musketeer barracks has a cat. But whose cat is Lucien really?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Captain's Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer – The 3 Musketeers and the characters belong to Alexander Dumas and is now in the public domain. This can be read as a companion fic to the Cardinal's Cat or a stand-alone.

There was a cat in the barracks, a glossy-furred black cat with the oddest eyes- one jade green, the other golden amber. He was a fine beast who made quick sport of the rats which sometimes plagued the men in the barracks. Befitting a member of the feline tribe, he came and went at will. No guard could keep him in or out of the compound. It was not unusual for the cat to vanish for days before sauntering into the barracks as if he owned the place.

Their captain took a shine to the creature and named it for a favoured horse which had since gone to the heavenly pastures. So the name Lucien stuck. The cat would cock his furry head whenever he was called. Sometimes he would come forward for a quick stroke under the chin. More often, he would just give a yawn and continue aloof on his way.

Lucien enjoyed napping on the Captain’s desk, often atop his hat. De Treville’s men learned not to laugh when their commander emerged from his office in a hurry, his feather drooping and hat suspiciously covered with black fur. Lucien liked to climb onto the shoulders of his friend and drape his long body across the captain’s shoulders. More often he was rewarded with a few titbits from the captain’s plate at meal-time.

Lucien was a nice cat, although a little standoffish. He had a vengeful streak, just ask the poor recruit who kicked him one day and awoke the next morning to find a dead rat upon his pillow beside his head. There was also the poor cook who threw a pan of water at Lucien and found her basket of eggs all smashed on the kitchen floor. Lucien was spotted licking egg off his paws as he sunned himself on the captain’s window sill.

“I wonder where he goes when he is not here…” a young recruit named D’Artagnan remarked as Lucien awoke from his nap on a nearby barrel, stretched his limbs and started licking his tail.

“Perhaps to see his lady-love, the handsome devil,” his friend Porthos guffawed and winked at their mutual friend Aramis, who was known to sneak out of his rooms at night for amorous adventures.

“Perhaps he has a place he retires to gnaw on his tail,” Athos said quietly. _Just like how he would take a bottle of wine to the farthest, dimmest corner of the tavern to nurse when the black moods took hold._

“Perhaps he has a family somewhere. A merchant with a plump wife and a brood of little children who would play games with him and ply him with cream…” Porthos mused. “I had a dog once… when I was a small boy…”

“He would get fat and lazy on all that cream on top of what Monsieur de Treville feeds him,” Aramis remarked wryly. The four looked at the large feline.

Lucien gazed at the four musketeers curiously with his mismatched eyes. Flicking his tail in a quick salute, he was off the barrel and sauntering to the gate. Wanderings were fine with him but a fine dinner and a warm place by the fire beckoned him home.

* * *

 

“Diablo, there you are.”

The black cat nuzzled the hand so gently stroking him. With a bound, he settled himself down on a red, velvety lap. The hand stroking him was different from the captain’s sword-calloused ones, for the Cardinal had little reason to lift a sword. With a satisfied purr, he closed his eyes and started to doze as his master watched the flames dancing in the grate and plotted.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, cats can be sneaky.


End file.
